Good Memories
by DreyMarley
Summary: When they'd finally let go from the hug he stared at her for a long while and realized that this wasn't the young girl who'd made fun of Hitler with him anymore. The war had changed a lot of people and poor Liesel wasn't spared from the pain.


It was a pale day. The rain poured out of the sky between the clouds, as if God himself was pouring a pitcher down from heaven. Everything was stuck behind a cloud. Buildings loomed high over the streets, ominously covered with blankets of gray moisture. The bright yellow sun from the summer days past was replaced with a dark gray oyster, only barely lighting up the day.

As a car zoomed down the street Liesel grinned and remembered chasing them down the cobblestoned streets with Rudy as a child. Jesse Owens, the fastest man on Earth- no, wait Rudy- the fastest boy in the world! Her grin slowly faded at the remembrance of her dearly beloved childhood friend.

It was unbearable at first.

The pain, the heartache, and it was hard to stop waking up in the morning, believing that Mama,Papa, and Rudy would still be there. Would still be alive and well, and full of love- well at least Papa and Rudy.

Mama would always be a thunderstorm, Liesel thought smiling, even on her best days there would always be something to rumble at.

" Stop eating you fat dumpkof!" She'd yell at Papa. Sometimes even, " The mouth on it!" would be directed at Liesel when she'd say something particularly snappy.

The nightmares had been worse than ever when Max arrived at the shop that day, where Liesel diligently worked for Rudy's father.

Seeing him walk through that door with the dopey smile on his face made her want to laugh and cry simultaneously.

When they'd finally let go from the hug he stared at her for a long while and realized that this wasn't the young girl who'd made fun of Hitler with him anymore. The war had changed a lot of people and poor Liesel wasn't spared from the pain.

But nevertheless he was alive, she was alive, and that was all that mattered.

Liesel always had the same reoccurring dream. She,mama, papa, and Rudy would all be sitting down at the dinner table pretending to enjoy mama's stew and then there would be a huge explosion. Mama would die first on impact and her haunted eyes would stare into Liesel's soul. Papa would be gravely injured, a different wound each dream that would slowly take his life, a leg wound with a punctured artery, a gash on his head, one time even a stomach wound that had his innards spilling out onto the floor. But Rudy's death would always hit her the hardest and that one fact would never change in the dreams. He would still be alive after the first explosions and they would be trying to escape from next ones, running through the streets towards the bomb shelter, when suddenly a building would collapse onto the the street and he would push her out of the way sacrificing himself. She would cry out his name, then sob hysterically, and try to pull the rubble from his body. She would succeed everytime only to hear his breath gasping out in painful jerks when she pulled the rubble from his face. Tears would roll down his cheeks, his and hers mixed together.

" Don't leave me Rudy!" She'd plead with him.

" I'll never leave you saumench," Would be his last reply and then his eyes would roll back so she could only see the whites.

Bombs rained down all around her but she couldn't bring herself to care until she gently closed his eyes with the palm of her hand. One last caress with her hand and a kiss to his white blonde hair would be given, and then she would wake up.

She never had nightmares of Max though. Somewhere deep in her heart she'd always had faith in his survival no matter how naive it seemed to be.

And here he was in the flesh! Breathing hard, blood pumping with excitement as he and Liesel separated from their embrace.

" How've you been?" He asked at last.

" I've been coping ," she said after a while, her face darkening.

No matter how happy she was Leisel could never escape the sadness from the bombings. She was beginning to think that it would never leave her, and that she'd be unable to experience true joy for the rest of her life

_Even with Max here_, she thought desolately, _I can't seem to forget all the pain. _

Max saw in her face exactly how hard it was so far to cope and for the first time ever he cursed the war, he cursed Hitler, but not for the Jews, his people, or anyone else, but at that moment solely for poor Leisel Meminger the book thief.

" The pain helps us in a way, you know," he said comfortingly.

She didn't have to word her disbelief for he saw it in her crinkled eyebrow.

" With the pain come good memories, so that we'll never forget the ones we love. The goal is to move past and accept the pain so that only the good memories remain."

" It's difficult to move past the pain though," Leisel replied indignantly, her eyes clouding with emotion, tears pooling.

" All good things come in time," he replied with a small smile, " You'll see."

And he was right. Albeit it took many many years, one day Leisel could think about all her lost loved ones without cursing Hitler. Later, she could think about them without crying. And lastly, when all the hatred and pain was removed from her heart she could think of them and smile, for now only the good memories were left.

And on her last day on Earth, even Death would be proud to say her dying thoughts were of chasing cars down the street with Rudy, playing in the snow with Max, and pretending to enjoy Mama's terrible stew with Papa. No thoughts of hatred or depressing matters were in her mind and they never would be again.

_Danke Max_, were the last words that left her lips and she left the world with a grand smile, befitting a queen, the queen of stolen books.


End file.
